Freylinia tropica is usually a shrub, occasionally a small tree of up to 7 m (SA Tree List No. 670.3). It is commonly called blue honey-bells, a name understood when looking at the picture. Only a small part of its distribution lies in South Africa, in the north-west of Limpopo. A bigger part of the species distribution is in the east of Zimbabwe and across the border in the west of Mozambique.

The leaves are obovate or oblanceolate with variably toothed margins. The flowers are mauve, lilac, blue or white with long thin corolla tubes and five spreading lobes at their mouths. Flowers grow in axillary clusters near branch tips. They appear in spring and summer.

The fruits are pale brown, ovoid capsules tipped with the persistent styles. These fruits are dehiscent, i.e. they burst open to release their seeds when ripe (Coates Palgrave, 2002).